Need your Advice - SSD Vs. Hard Disc Drive

CES is just over a week away with new processors and the MBP line is due a refresh any time now. The hardware AVC encoder/decoder will be worth holding out for:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DopdfPnWlFA

If Apple supports this, it would mean being able to encode an H.264 sample movie 2-3x faster than normal with minimal CPU usage so you can keep using the machine.


With things like TRIM, custom controllers and the way NAND memory works, your data will not be as recoverable as a hard drive. You'd have to send the drive back to the manufacturer at huge expense. But how likely would you do a similar recovery with a HDD if the read/write head broke after accidentally knocking the laptop against something?

You'd have to send it to a special facility for them to remount your drive platters in a contained environment and it will be expensive:

http://www.geek.com/articles/gadgets...rive-20080512/

$1900 in the above case.

You'd be cheaper buying 10 external HDDs and cloning daily backups to all of them.

This is another reason to wait for the update because the new MBP may have Light Peak and/or USB 3, which are way faster than anything we've had now. Of course, they may drop FW 800.

I'd also hold out for an SSD refresh. They are moving to 25nm NAND, which should hopefully bring the cost down a bit - for the manufacturers, it should allow nearly double the capacity at the same price. A UK site lists one of the Vertex series as 25nm but I don't think it is:

http://overclockers.co.uk/showproduc...odid=HD-070-OC

The same model has been on Newegg for months:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ZSSD2-2VTX200G

I think we'll hear more about SSD at CES too though on Jan 6th.

Hard disk? SSD?

How about both?

yank the optical drive and shove in an aftermarket SSD with an adapter. For data integrity, you can back up everything to your main hard disk with time machine or whatever... or yank the optical drive and install a second high performance hard disk. Use an external firewire powered optical drive if you need one. They are very portable...

Hard drives/SSDs are user replaceable now. Get a hard drive with your computer, wait a few months and get a new SSD. You'll save money by not using the Apple factory upgrade in the first place, you can get a newer, better performing drive, and you can look around at reviews and be picky about what you get.